Secret Agents Were Cool...Not So Much for These Agents

[DOUGHBOYS]

For a sports fan, and especially a fantasy sports fan, everything is hogwash till seen or proven.
NFL fantasy enthusiasts laughed at the thought of 'running back by committees' or 'third down backs'.
The thought was that most certainly, NFL coaches would put their BEST back on the field.
At ALL times.
Now, now we know it doesn't work that way.
And the hogwash of using many backs instead of one has become reality.

Baseball has changed as well. Platoon players are the norm. Great players are rested.
Hell, ALL players are rested.
Baseball and all of sports have bought into the wussification of America.
Agents have had their way.
Their clients get paid much more for doing much less.

I was scoffed at earlier this year when I mentioned that 6 man rotations were on the way.
Understandable.
This goes back to the hogwash rule of until seen or proven, it's hogwash.
Now, nine teams are in six man rotations.
The Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, White Sox, Mariners, Mets, Phils, D-Backs, and Rockies.
Some will say that this is just an end of the year phenomenon.
They're wrong.
The foot is in the door. Precedent has been set.

Agents rule our game.
It used to be the owners.
Then, it was the union.
Then, the players.
Now, it is the agents.

Stephen Stasburg not pitching in the playoffs after reaching an inning limit?
Mike Rizzo took the heat for that. Probably thinking the Nats would certainly have many more opportunities to again reach the playoffs.
How's that working for you, Mr. Rizzo?
Rizzo took the heat for that, but the tones of the decision had to have come from Scott Boras.
And what happens when the same scenario plays out later, only the pitchers name changes from Strasburg to Harvey?
When the Mets balk, Scott Boras goes public.
And in the process, makes his own client look bad.
Boras doesn't care about that. His first rule is money. Money above all else.
Harvey will make money with or without a tarnished reputation.
Harvey is a money line. A money line that the Mets, in Boras mind, was putting in danger.
Now, Harvey is doing less and has a little bit of a tarnished image.
No big deal.
Rizzo is thought less of now. So is Harvey.
Boras?
Both clients are making the same or more money and doing less for those dollars.
Winner.

We, the sports fan and fantasy enthusiast, get less and less bang for our buck each year.
I implore Rockies fans NOT to pay to watch the Rockies at the ball park.
The only way their Rockies would get better is if they did NOT attend games.
Their owners are satisfied with the 30,000 patrons who come to watch an inferior product on the field.
They do little in improving that product. Yet, almost yearly, raise ticket prices.
Pennant?
World Series?
Those are words for other teams.

Baseball's system used to work well for the fan. Players wanted what their fans wanted.
A pennant.
A World Series.
Now, I get the sense that such things are secondary for players.
It certainly is for their agents.
A pennant and World Series is nice and they'll certainly celebrate.

(Hell, if it one thing players know how to do today, it is over-celebration! Can some team win a walk-off game without a celebration and a pie to the face of the star?
Please????
And every hit, now has to have a signal to the dugout as if the player has done something impressive.
He has only done his job, right?
Heck, a Ted Williams type, not acknowledging fans cheers and playing with his head down would be a breath of fresh air now!
Can these players just play the game the way they played it in Little League?
I'll answer my own question.
No, they can't.
Rant stopped.)

But, I think most sports fans realize that the money paid to athletes to reach a pennant, or World Series, or Super Bowl has become more important than those destinations.
Agents made it that way.
And agents are having their way.